This year, High River has the special honour of not only taking part in another Alberta Culture Days (formerly Alberta Arts Days), but we are also one of the feature sites for the celebration of Alberta culture.

Since it began from a one-day event five years ago, Alberta Culture Days has expanded to three days and was celebrated at 1,046 events across 93 communities last year.

This year, High River and the High River Centennial Library were the proud recipients of a $20,000 grant from the government to ensure that the town has the best Alberta Culture Days ever.

Thanks to that grant, the High River Centennial Library is able to do a lot more this year.

“We are able to advertise to all of southern Alberta and bring in a lot more people,” Joyce Brown with the High River Centennial Library said. “We are doing some upgrades to the library with the theatre. We also have got all the school children and summer camps making banners.”

Over the course of the three-day event, which runs from Sept. 28 to Sept. 30, there will be a lot to take in across High River. The library has dozens of exhibits; presentations and tutorials planned for Alberta Culture Days, while businesses and galleries across town will be showcasing the work of area artists. In all, there will be over 25 venues celebrating over 100 artists from the area.

With Alberta Culture Days having the mandate to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Albertans in the arts and cultural life of their community, it is can be said that High River is following that mandate perfectly.

“People can expect to come and have a wonderful time playing. A lot of the places have hands-on activities,” Brown said. “Every year we have more venues and more participants. It is a great way to learn about High River and Alberta culture and art. The focus is to keep our artists local.”

Naturally, putting on an event of this size is no easy task.

“It is a big event and it takes a lot of planning to put together,” Brown said.

With all that work, there will naturally be something for everyone during those three days.

“We have performers from youth, art from three-year-olds to Grannies and Gramps who will be performing on the Sunday,” Brown said.

To find out what is going on during Alberta Culture Days, you can pick up the information booklets around town, including at the library and High River Times office.